Disclosure Sites:

• SEC to Propose New Corporate Disclosure Rules [FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2002-22] Washington, DC, February 13, 2002 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it intends to propose changes in corporate disclosure rules as the first in a series of steps designed to improve the financial reporting and disclosure system.
• SEC Urged to Strengthen Rules Governing Corporate Disclosure of Environmental Risks August 21, 2002 by William Baue Aug 21, 2002 The Rose Foundation is petitioning the SEC to require more comprehensive disclosure of environmental liabilities, allowing investors to assess the potential effect on shareowner value. [Petition, pdf]

  Related Articles 
  - Companies Skirt Disclosure of Environmental Liabilities 
  - SEC Asked to Enforce Its Environmental Disclosure Rules 
  

• The Enron Failure and the State of Corporate Disclosure POLICY BRIEF #97 [Brookings Inst, April 2002] View Full PolicyBrief (PDF) the disclosure problems that have surfaced in the Enron case have been apparent only in the past several years, especially the growing numbers of earnings restatements and the rising concern about "earnings management" expressed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and others.

• Securities and Exchange Commission (Issues)
  • Meet S&P's Corporate-Disclosure Rankings A newly launched service scores public companies on how open their flow of information is to investors Business Week Online OCTOBER 15, 2002 After a series of scandals that have rocked the financial markets -- and shaken investor confidence in Corporate America -- investors may want to have an easy way to size up just how well a company disseminates critical information. That has prompted financial-information provider Standard & Poor's (like BusinessWeek Online, a unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies) to launch a service aimed at giving investors rankings, evaluations, and customized research related to how companies disclose information.

  • Redefining corporate disclosure OECD Observer, By Allen L. White, Acting Chief Executive, Global Reporting Initiative Published on: September 04, 2002 "Improving corporate behaviour is vital to sustainable development. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) can help show the way. The current crisis in confidence over corporate financial reports raises questions that go well beyond a company's financial sustainability."

  • Grappling with Corporate Disclosure: The SEC and the House of Representatives By Christopher Faille, Reporter Friday, February 15, 2002 WASHINGTON (HedgeWorld.com) Specifically, the SEC on Feb. 13 proposed to accelerate reporting by companies of transactions by company insiders, to accelerate filing by companies of their quarterly and annual reports, and to expand the list of significant events requiring disclosure in form 8-K. If the rules are adopted, significant events will include changes in rating agency decisions and lockout periods affecting employee stock-ownership plans.

  • SEC TO PROPOSE NEW CORPORATE DISCLOSURE RULES FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2002-22 Washington, DC, February 13, 2002 -- The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it intends to propose changes in corporate disclosure rules as the first in a series of steps designed to improve the financial reporting and disclosure system.

  • SEC Snubs Corporate Environmental Disclosure [Lycos Network] By Donald Sutherland WASHINGTON, DC, December 1, 1998 (ENS) - The Securities and Exchange Commission is sidestepping environmental reporting requirements in its new demand for precise corporate disclosure of material expenses that affect share prices of firms traded on stock exchanges.
  • SEC initiates disclosure discussion [BizJournal, December 20, 1999]

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will begin a 90-day comment period regarding disclosure of company information to analysts. The proposed rule would limit the information that is routinely given to analysts before it is released to the public.

  • SECURITIES INDUSTRY RAISES SERIOUS CONCERNS ABOUT SEC PROPOSAL ON DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION [Dec. 15, 1999; Press Release]
  • Interpretation: Disclosure of Year 2000 Issues and Consequences by Public Companies, Investment Advisers, Investment Companies, and Municipal Securities Issuers [August 4, 1998]

  Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)

  The mission of the Financial Accounting Standards Board is to establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and education of the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of financial information.

  American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)

  • The ENRON Crisis (Home Page)

• Company Disclosures - Global Business - About.com
• The Right-to-Know Network

  "provides free access to numerous databases, text files, and conferences on the environment, housing, and sustainable development... identify specific factories and their environmental effects; analyze reinvestment by banks in their communities; and assess people and communities affected."

• FULL DISCLOSURE 1998 [Shelley Taylor & Associates: INRFOFARM] [www.infofarm.com/html/fd_overview.html] (5/99)

  "... is a study we have been publishing every two years since 1992. An outgrowth of our desire to explore the subject of how companies communicate their quality of management, this study contrasts what companies voluntarily disclose with what institutional investors want and need to make investment decisions... Using an index of nearly 200 proprietary disclosure items and investment criteria, we interviewed 25 of the world's most influential money managers and contrasted their needs with the disclosure practices of 100 global 1000 companies... a systematic approach to presenting both qualitative and quantitative information to investors."

• Corporate Disclosure: Y2K [http://www.y2k-status.org/Corporate.htm] (5/99)
• Transparency International

  Corruption is one of the greatest challenges of the contemporary world. It undermines good government, fundamentally distorts public policy, leads to the misallocation of resources, harms the private sector and private sector development and particularly hurts the poor. Controlling it is only possible with the cooperation of a wide range of stakeholders in the integrity system, including most importantly the state, civil society, and the private sector.

• YUE LIE, GORDON RICHARDSON, and DAN THORNTON Corporate Disclosure of Environmental Liability Information: Theory and Evidence, Appearing in: Volume 14, Number 3 - Fall 1997 "The decision to disclose information concerning a firm's environmental liabilities is modeled as a sequential game involving the firm, a capital market, and outside stakeholders... A partial disclosure equilibrium is derived in which firms reveal information strategically.... Inherent uncertainty regarding the existence and size of the liabilities creates a setting where outsiders are uncertain if management is informed about those liabilities, so firms can plausibly withhold "bad news"..."

• Guidance for Corporate Disclosure Policy: NIRI Publishes 'Landmark' Corporate Disclosure and Investor Relations Survey [1995] "The National Investor Relations Institute has completed the most comprehensive survey of corporate disclosure and investor communications in its 25-year history.
  The just-released survey report includes responses from a sampling of 119 publicly-traded member corporations as well as expert commentary and analysis on nearly two dozen issues affecting relationships between corporations, securities analysts and institutional investors. Among the major issues addressed in the report are: (1) Providing Guidance to Securities Analysts, (2) Earnings Surprises and Managing Expectations, (3) Controlling Access to Inside Information and Procedures for Handling Insider Trading, (4) Reporting Earnings, (5) Dealing with Street Rumors and Unusual Trading Activity, and (5) Soft Information Disclosure."
• Tyranny of the Bottom Line by Ralph Estes Chapter 11: How Do We Get There
  
  Appendix 1: The Corporate Accountability Act
  Appendix 2: Customer Information Needs
  Appendix 3: Worker Information Needs
  Appendix 4: Community Information Needs
  Appendix 5: Society's Information Needs
  
  
• Accounting Research Network (ARN) was founded to increase communication among scholars and practitioners of accounting worldwide. ARN encourages the early distribution of research results by publishing abstracts of top quality research papers in our three journals: Auditing, Litigation and Tax Abstracts, Financial Accounting Abstracts, and Managerial Accounting Abstracts.
• Micromedia Limited - Disclosure Information Providers
• Title List
• About the Author: Corporate Disclosure of Environmental Risks: U.S. a...
• Commentary: TSE Interim Report on Corporate Disclosure
• Client Memo: Duties of Directors and Officers as to Corporate Disclosu...
• Small business hails passage of legislation repealing corporation financial disclosure; Arizona one of only two states to require privately held corporations to make their financial condition public. PHOENIX, March 25, 1997 (NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT BUSINESS)
• BOWNE: Corporate Legal Publications National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI)
  • ISSUES IN FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE SEMINAR, August 15, 1996/Chicago, IL
  • Guidance for Corporate Disclosure Policy [NIRI Publishes 'Landmark' Corporate Disclosure and Investor Relations Survey] Louis M. Thompson, Jr. President & CEO National Investor Relations Institute July 20, 1995

• Corporate governance is about collaboration, not annual reports Too many SA companies see disclosure as the crux of corporate governance. But it is only a by-product of the kind of collaborative decision-making increasingly being seen as the key to business success, writes CIARAN RYAN

• Fool Disclosure [Motley Fool]

• THE NETWORK AGAINST CORPORATE SECRECY The Network Against Corporate Secrecy is a grassroots network of environmental organizations, community groups, consumer groups and labor unions opposed to corporate secrecy and seeking an expansion of the public's Rights to Know.

• Reinventing Environmental Information (REI) [EPA]

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• Canada
  • TSE committee releases interim report on corporate disclosure (Canada) A committee sponsored by The Toronto Stock Exchange has released for comment an ambitious interim Report that proposes sweeping changes for Canada's capital markets. [Legal update, Feb.1996]
  • TSE PROPOSES TIMELY DISCLOSURE GUIDELINES (Jan. 1996) The Toronto Stock Exchange has published for comment proposed amendments to its Timely Disclosure Policy. The amendments would require listed companies to establish written policies and procedures in three specific areas: (1) disclosure of material information; (2) maintaining confidentiality of information, and (3) trading by insiders and employees.

  • KPMG Canada
    • Focus on Financial Reporting KPMG Newsletter.
    • KPMG: Responsible Corporate Disclosure - A Search for Balance, March 1997 On March 18, 1997, the Final Report of the Committee on Corporate Disclosure sponsored by the Toronto Stock Exchange was issued. The work of the Committee has significant implications for all who are interested in the public reporting obligations of reporting issuers.

• Germany
  • Association of Critical Shareholders in Germany [Larger Site in German]

• Japan
  • Disclosure after Listing in Tokyo || Tokyo Stock Exchange The Exchange expects foreign companies to make adequate disclosure after listing and to notify specified matters to the Exchange to ensure the protection of Japanese investors. A listed foreign company must appoint an attorney-in-fact residing in the Tokyo area and through such person fulfill the continuous disclosure obligations

• Singapore
  • Council on Corporate Disclosure and Governance Following the amendments to the Companies Act on 8 July 2002, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lee Hsien Loong launched the Council on Corporate Disclosure and Governance ("CCDG") on 16 August 2002.
    To position Singapore as a key business and financial centre, there is a need to give investors the confidence that companies registered in Singapore present true and fair financial statements that are in accordance with internationally accepted accounting standards.
  • Accounting Standards [Council on Corporate Disclosure and Governance. Description: Code Of Corporate Governance] The accounting standards prescribed by the CCDG would be known as "Financial Reporting Standards (FRS)". The list of FRSs will be considered by the CCDG before they are published later this year.

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• The Stakeholder Alliance The Stakeholder Alliance is an association of organizations and individuals that promotes the interests of corporate stakeholders -- the employees, customers, communities, stockholders, suppliers, and the greater society, all of which contribute significantly to the success of the corporation or are affected significantly by corporate actions. The StakeholderAlliance seeks full corporate accountability to all stakeholders."
  • THE SUNSHINE STANDARDS for Corporate Reporting to Stakeholders "The annual Corporate Report to Stakeholders should be issued publicly by all larger corporations; copies should be provided upon request at no charge, and should also be placed on file in the city clerk's office, municipal library, and union offices in communities in which the company has facilities; a full copy should also be available on the World Wide Web.... The fundamental objective to be sought is full and fair disclosure to those who are significantly affected by corporate actions or who contribute significantly to the success of the enterprise. This disclosure should include all information that stakeholders need to make informed decisions and to protect themselves, their families, and their property."
• Network Against Corporate Secrecy is a grassroots network of environmental organizations, community groups, consumer groups and labor unions opposed to corporate secrecy and seeking an expansion of the public's Rights to Know. We are exchanging information on issues of concern including...."
• National Investors Relations Institute (NIRI> The National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) is a not-for-profit professional organization whose mission is to advance the practice of investor relations and the professional competency and stature of its members.
  • Guidance for Corporate Disclosure Policy EXECUTIVE ALERT; Louis M. Thompson, Jr., Updates on Issues Vital to the Practice of Investor Relations, October 18, 1994. [President and Chief Executive Officer, National Investor Relations Institute]
  • Guidance for Corporate Disclosure Policy: NIRI Publishes 'Landmark' Corporate Disclosure and Investor Relations Survey
• Information Providers (Micromedia) [Commercial Vendors]
• CORPORATE DISCLOSURE LTD 2 Heath Drive, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5RP, England

  "Corporate Disclosure Limited has direct computer access to the records of all companies registered in England, Wales and Scotland. The database comprises some 1,363,000 English and Welsh companies, 78,000 Scottish companies and 21,000 Northern Ireland companies together with some 4 million director names."

• Jacob Nelson's Page
• Arizona one of only two states to require privately held corporations to make their financial condition public: Small business hails passage of legislation repealing corporation financial disclosure.

  PHOENIX, March 25, 1997 -- "Arizona small businesses chalked up a major victory with the passage of House Bill 2291, repealing Arizona's archaic financial disclosure requirement for privately-held corporations," Samantha Fearn, Arizona State Director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said today in reaction to the Senate's 17 to 12 vote to send HB 2291 to the governor's desk.

International Organizations:

Disclosure [OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises]

Authors & Researchers:

Ron Kasznik, Assistant Professor of Accounting Stanford Graduate School of Business; [http://wesley.stanford.edu/facultybios/fkasznikr.html] [online publications] (5/99)

Clippings:

SEC seeks clearer reporting Seattle Times, Thursday, June 13, 2002 [By The Washington Post]

SEC to vote on quick disclosure: Proposal would shorten reporting time, expand requirements Seattle PI, Wednesday, June 12, 2002 By JUDY MATHEWSON, BLOOMBERG NEWS

Annual reports haven't yet become open books Seattle Times, Sunday, June 02, 2002 By Steven Pearlstein, The Washington Post

Sure reads great, but what's really going on? Seattle Times, June 02, 2002; By Steven Pearlstein

SEC urges more disclosure in partnerships: Recommendation comes in wake of Enron's ties with Arthur Andersen Seattle PI, Monday, January 7, 2002; By NEIL ROLAND BLOOMBERG NEWS

Amazon.com sued by shareholders Seattle Times, March 22, 2001; By Monica Soto

Securities and Exchange Commission rule would ban selective disclosure; Seattle Times, December 15, 1999, 11:32 a.m. Pacific by Bloomberg News

Boeing hit with 2 more lawsuits Seattle Times, Thursday, Nov. 6, 1997, by Stanley Holmes